Smishing | What It Is, How It Works, and How to Protect Yourself
Brief
Smishing is a phishing scam carried out over text message, where an attacker poses as a trusted source, a bank, delivery service, or government agency, to trick you into clicking a malicious link or handing over personal information. The name is a blend of “SMS” and “phishing,” and it now ranks among the most common ways scammers reach consumers directly on their phones.
The scale of the problem is no longer marginal. According to the FTC, consumers lost $470 million to text message scams in 2024 alone, five times what was lost in 2020, and the trend has kept climbing into 2025 and 2026, fueled by fake toll notices, package-delivery alerts, and bank fraud warnings that feel routine enough to trust. What makes Smishing effective isn’t sophistication; it’s familiarity.